Manaka and Anos

"Wow, darling this place is amazing!" My mother said as we walked into the mansion.

"Indeed. Although it's smaller than our mansion in England, it's still quite large, not to mention, I don't know if it was an accident or intentional, but the entire place is pre-arranged almost perfectly to set up some high-level bounded fields." My father said.

"Of course. I promised you both that I could find you a suitable living arrangement for the time being. As your future daughter-in-law, it's important that I show off my abilities." Manaka said as she led my parents and I through the mansion.

Tokyo doesn't have a large selection of European-style mansions in it that aren't occupied, so the fact that Manaka was able to find a suitable location for my parents to live in comfortably while also setting up a workshop for me and my father was extremely convenient.

"I'm not marrying you," I said as Manaka glanced back at me with a smile.

"Of course not, dear." She said as she smiled back at me.

I don't exactly know at which point she began to believe this, but she had put me down as a tsundere in her book, so whenever I said that I wasn't going to marry her, she just smiled at me with a slight blush. To be honest, she was absolutely adorable, so I didn't really mind, however, since I plan on having a harem in the future, I would need to clear up her misunderstanding sooner rather than later. After all, the whole reason I was ok with coming to the Nasuverse was to get the waifus. Why else would I want to come to this den of evil and horror when compared to the rest of the universes/multiverses that I'd inhabit?

"There is a garden nearby as well. It's very large and there are several spots where one could have... private time." Manaka said as she guided my parents through the back door. Of course, when she said 'private time', she quickly glanced at me before looking at my mother and father and winking.

"Oh my! It's lovely. Dear, should we stay in Japan?" my mother asked.

"Well, it's not too far from the maid caf- I mean, you would have much better access to your cosplay shop and wouldn't have to import your anime and manga." My dad stated. He made sure to catch himself before revealing his true intentions, but it still didn't save him from a glare from my mother.

"Well, since you caught yourself and I am in a good mood, I'll ignore what you were really going to say, dear." My mother stated as she began wandering around the gardens.

She waved her hand and cast a few magecraft spells from Metamorphosis Magecraft and Restoration Magecraft to bring the garden back to its former glory while changing some of the plants nearby into a selection of beautiful flowers.

My mother has recently been experimenting with the Magecraft of the Arcana family Magic Crest now that she had access to it. Before she was from a small family who was only good at creating top-quality, for the era, bounded fields, and she didn't have much talent outside of that, so when I gave her a copy of our Crest, she was ecstatic. Not only did the Crest allow her to cast the spells effortlessly, but it even granted her basic knowledge of how they worked.

Between using the magecraft in ways like this, to create exotic and new plants, to using Restoration Magecraft to restore her youth to her twenties, it seems like my mother was having just as much fun playing with it as she did when she watched her anime and manga. As the mansion Manaka was showing us was abandoned a few years ago, the garden was overgrown, so my mother used the power to revitalize the place while also bringing it up to its prime condition. My father had done the same on the mansion's interior when we arrived, though importantly, we left the exterior degraded since when we bought it, e didn't want the realtors to up the price.

"Oh! I didn't know that mother was also of the Arcana line!" Manaka said with genuine surprise.

(POV Manaka)

It could be said that everything about the family was something I didn't quite know. I could see that the path through the ROOT of this family was supposed to go down had altered drastically since about seven years ago. What was supposed to happen was that their child would be born stillborn. The grief of that would break mother's mind and she would eventually murder father in his sleep, thinking he was somehow responsible. The Arcana Family, one of the most powerful in the world, would end just like that. Pathetically and sadly.

That was what was supposed to happen, anyway. But surprisingly, that tragedy never came to pass. The child lived, and he was the focal point of many changes around him. I knew this because changes in my vision occurred every now and then. Every once in a blue moon, I would notice something was slightly different with the timeline, as though someone or something was interfering with it. It didn't bother me at all normally. After all, I knew it was either Kaleidoscope or Alaya changing something in the timeline, however, my Anos-sama was different. He was like a walking black hole in the timeline. Anything that got too close to him seemed to get sucked out of their 'proper place' and fall into the orbit of whatever it was that was keeping him unbound by the destiny every person has.

Everyone's actions were predetermined. Some people's actions would inevitably cause a branch in the timeline, like that boy in Fuyuki, however, as someone who was directly connected to the ROOT, I could always see everyone's predetermined paths and endpoints of every person in the world. Every single one of the paths they would have, and every last possible choice they could make. It didn't matter to the person if it seemed like a difficult choice or if they left whatever it was up to chance, the result was always the same. When you can look through all of space-time simultaneously like I can, people begin to look less like people and more like puppets on strings, dancing their predetermined dance and unable to ever perceive the puppet master moving us all along. However, her Anos-sama was different, I saw nothing when I look into his future, or perhaps, it's more likely to say that I see too much for my mind to comprehend. He was someone who could actually choose his own path, in other words, he was the only one with 'free will' in all the universe.

It both terrifies and fascinates me. I, who despite my theoretically infinite power with a direct connection to the ROOT, and all the knowledge in the world, am unable to break free of my fate of falling in love with, and eventually being betrayed by, Arthur Pendragon. I know it was my destiny, but I didn't care. That was my endpoint, or at least, it was until the day I saw him sitting on that park bench.

That bench was supposed to be empty, yet there he was. That's probably when it happened. When my heartbeat began to quicken and my face flushed. It was impossible, yet I had experienced something I wouldn't experience until several months from now. I fell in love.

It didn't matter to me what he looked like, what he believed, or what his goals were. He was beautiful to me, the most beautiful thing that could possibly exist. If Magic was the personification of achieving the impossible, he must be the personification of Magic itself. I must have him! I want nothing more in the entire world. No, I would let the rest of the world die to preserve him.

...

(MC POV)

"Come, sit Manaka," I said gesturing to a chair across from us in what would soon become the mansion's tea room. My mother and father had sped off to the realtor's place to buy the mansion while I stayed behind to erect some bounded fields.

Manaka, in some sort of vain attempt to impress me, immediately used her connection to the ROOT to create the most powerful bounded field her circuits would allow. Of course, I startled her when I used my eyes to instantly dispel, then remake her bounded field. After we were done, I pulled out a few pieces of furniture and had Aisha make some tea while we talked.

"What is it you wish of me, darling?" She asked.

"It's insensitive, however, I won't be able to calm down until I know. Why did you fall in love with me?" I asked.

Manaka looked a bit shocked before smiling back at me with a blush. She even put her hands on her cheeks and squirmed happily. "My, my. Husband is asking such questions..." She started but stopped when she saw I was being serious.

"Somehow, it makes me happy that you seriously want to know." She said with a pause before calming down all the way. She matched my eyes before continuing. "I can't see you... or rather, I can't see where you'll be or where you came from after your fourth birthday. I can see everything, I can know everything, and everyone whom I meet I can see all of the points in the past and future in where they will be. Even Kaleidoscope doesn't escape my sight for more than a few seconds, but you have become something of an enigma to me. An existence with no predetermined path.

Not even I am able to stray from my path. I tried, many times when I was younger, yet no matter how many times I attempted to stray from it, I always ended up back in line with where I was supposed to be. It was my fate too, in a few months, to fall for a man I knew would betray me, who would never appreciate my hard work and effort to make his wishes come true, yet the moment I see eyes on you, the one without the shackles of fate, I knew I had to have you." She explained.

"So because you couldn't 'see' me, my existence fascinated you and you fell in love?" I asked.

"Yes. That's about right." She nodded.

At that moment, Aisha came back into the room and presented us both with tea and some small snacks. Aisha had a dimensional storage ring I created for her with over 100 cubic kilometers of space, in which she used to store everything from ingredients for serving food, like this in, to cars and jets, to mystic codes useful for combat, and even vast quantities of every conceivable material, both mundane and mystical, for me to use in experiments. She was truly the perfect assistant, and with her pre-created personality, she truly enjoyed, and almost got high off of being as diligent to me as possible. Creating some tea and cooking up a quick snack without any of the appliances left in the mansion was a piece of cake for her.

"I see." I said as I took a sip of my tea. "I think I know why. It's because I do not allow for the Concept of Destiny to affect me." I said after a moment.

"Concept of Destiny?" Manaka responded a bit shocked.

"I am the Sixth Magician, Concept Magic is my ability," I replied.

Manaka looked amazed for a moment. She had never known that such a thing as Concept Magic existed. She was convinced that by 2050 when most of the Mana of the world dried up, there would be no new Magicians in the world. She was convinced of this because she never 'saw' it happen.

I saw that she was confused so I explained. "I can control Concepts, but not just already existing Concepts, but I can also create new Concepts or remove other ones. For example, I have eliminated the Concept of Destiny on myself. This has allowed me to have complete free will, it also means that the ROOT and any entities connected to it can't track my location." I specified.

"Why?" Manaka asked.

"Well because I was being a bumbass," I said with a sigh.

"Eh?" Manaka and Aisha both looked a bit shocked at me.

"At the time, I was worried about a bunch of things, most importantly, the Counter Force coming after me." I mentioned as I took another sip of tea.

"It wasn't until a few weeks later when I realized how stupid I was being. I just set up a few countermeasures and allowed the Counterforce know about them." I stated.

"What kind of countermeasures?" Manaka asked.

"Basically, I set up a few sets of conditions that would erase the Concept of the 'Counter Force'. For example, if the Counter Force moved intentionally to harm or hinder me in any way, I'd delete the Counter Force. However, since it provides a useful service for me, in keeping humanity alive, I didn't outright eliminate it." I explained.

"Wait so you're saying that you're holding the Counter Force hostage!?!" Manaka asked shocked. She didn't know about that! It was definitely something she should have known about too.

"Pretty much. It basically does the same thing to everyone else right? If they step too far out of line, it either kills the deviant or prunes the world of all life, so it's only fair I do the same to it. Oh yeah, I also added that the Counter Force wasn't able to 'comprehend' the concept of trying to 'escape', 'call for help', or 'find a way around' this hostage situation. There will be no counter guardians going back in time to eliminate me in my crib, for example, or no favors called to Zelretch." I elaborated as I took another bite of my biscuit.

It was good. Lots of butter and a hint of sweetness from the honey Aisha put into it.

"Excuse me, master..." Aisha called out to me, looking a bit shocked and confused.

'Oh right, I forgot to let her know I was a Magician when making her, I barely use my magic when doing things because it makes it too boring.' I thought. "Yes, Aisha?" I asked.

"What do you mean, 'unable to comprehend the concept'?" She asked

"What I mean is, no matter how hard it tries, even if methods were pointed out to it in exact detail in an easy-to-understand, step-by-step process on how to get around my Magic, it wouldn't be able to understand it. It'd be like explaining theoretical quantum physics to a baby in an alien language backward and in a cipher. No matter how smart the baby is, it would never be able to comprehend the information."

"I see..." Aisha said as she bowed to me. "I apologize for interrupting your talk."

"It's fine." I said as I took another bite and waved my hand in her direction to let her know I wasn't mad. "but your baking skills have really improved!" I complimented.

"T-thank you, master," Aisha said, shivering a bit with a small blush on her face. Yup, my change to make her feel pleasure when serving me was a good idea after all. I'll have to mentally save this image to my 'cultured materials folder'.

"I see, then I couldn't 'see' you because you left the Concept of 'Destiny' off of you. In other words, the ROOT has no control over what you do in life and your path is not pre-determined, even for someone who can travel through, or look through time." Manaka explained, more to herself than to me.

I was a bit surprised, but I hid it well. 'I guess Manaka is pretty intelligent after all. Even when being confronted with the information she couldn't get from the ROOT, she isn't stumped by it.' I thought to myself, finishing my biscuit and drinking down the last of my tea.

After a moment, Manaka stopped trying to wrap her mind around the concept of me hiding information from the ROOT, despite that being the entire point. She looked at me with a light smile and softer eyes.

"As expected of my husband. Not even Akasha has control over him!" She stated.

"I just told you I wasn't going to marry you," I replied with half-closed eyes.

"Hmm. Who knows. With no way of seeing your future path and destiny, anything could happen, right? I'll just have to stick with you until the end." She replied with a bright smile.

"You know I plan on having a harem right?" I stated bluntly.

It probably wasn't the best thing to say to a woman who loved you, but it was definitely the right thing to say to a woman with who you DIDN'T want to get into a relationship. Manaka was cute as hell, and yanderes were nice and all, but I would already have my hands full with Sakura's low-key yandere behavior, Rin's tsundere behavior, Medea's past of being cheated of being a major blocker for becoming part of my harem, and Artoria's communication issues. Medusa would probably be easier, as she would come as a package with Sakura.

Aisha was included by default, otherwise, I wouldn't have made her such a babe. If you looked at it from the outside, creating your own waifu was kinda pathetic, but I really didn't give a shit about other people's opinions. I was the one with the waifu, not them.

Was I a scumbag? Yes. Did I care? Nope. Nothing's getting in the way of my waifu's now that they were real.

"Really now?" Manaka said with a darkened expression.

"Yup, so-" I started, getting ready to end this conversation.

"No matter! I guess I'll be getting a lot more younger sisters. As your wife, managing your concubines will be a pain, but if it's the will of my husband, then I can't go against it!" Manaka declared loudly, standing abruptly, pointing towards the sky, and looking towards the ceiling (heavens) while a light sone down from above.

I looked at her for a moment with half-closed eyes.

'Really?' I thought.

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A/N: What do you think of Manaka's character? I was able to sort of grasp her character from the wiki page, however since I still wasn't able to understand her fully, especially when not linked with Arthur Pendragon, I based much of her personality and desires off of Kreia from the Knights of the Old Republic Series.

Was I close? Off by a mile? Leave your comments below.